I made this soup the very first time about 50 years ago. This is one of my most prized creations. It all started after taking a tour of
Penn Cove Shellfish, on Whidbey Island, Washington. When we left, they gave me a massive bag of fresh mussels, right from the sea. I needed to figure out what to do with them all!
This soup was one of the results. It also combines two of my other favorite ingredients, the artichoke and a fennel bulb.
This soup has a smooth and velvety quality. There's a rich flavor coming, not only from the cream, but from the artichoke heart. The fennel gives it a nice subtle sweetness, while also complementing the mussels with a light anise flavor.
This soup takes some work to make, but ... for a special occasion, a romantic evening, or just for a day spent playing in the kitchen, trying new things ... this is a good one. The end result is out of this world!
Video Note: Cleaning an artichoke, to get to the heart, takes a little bit of work.
Here's a great video that shows the method.
Nutrition Note: I did not include the lemon in the nutrition, because it is not eaten. Also, the all the nutrition I can find for mussels seems to base the nutrition off of the mussel, without the shells. However, you purchase them "with" the shells. Mussels definitely have carbs. I'm going to assume 1 lb. of mussels has about 24 mussels, weighing about 12 grams each, when cooked and removed from their shells. This is about 4 mussels per person, and totals 288 grams with of "mussel meat".